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Top Air Force General Backs Independent Inquiry in Rapes

The top general in the Air Force endorsed a Congressional call today for an independent inquiry at the Air Force Academy, where at least 20 women say they have been raped or sexually assaulted in recent years.

At the same time, the officer, Gen. John P. Jumper, the Air Force chief of staff, promised that a team of Air Force officers dispatched to the academy in Colorado Springs from Washington would ''vigorously investigate'' accusations that current and former cadets who reported sexual assaults faced indifference or even retaliation by academy officials.

''I welcome any investigation that is put out there, but there's none that's going to be more thorough than mine,'' General Jumper told reporters at a breakfast meeting.

In his most detailed comments on the widening scandal, General Jumper, a former fighter pilot and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke in unusually personal terms about an issue that he said struck close to home. He is the father of three daughters, two of them captains in the Air Force. The third begins officer training next year.

Mindful of the Navy's mishandling of the Tailhook sexual harassment debacle a decade ago, General Jumper and his civilian boss, Air Force Secretary James G. Roche, have personally taken lead roles in addressing the issue as a rising number of women have gone public with accounts of being raped or sexually assaulted at the academy.

Mr. Roche is to address the cadets on Thursday night at the academy.

Mr. Roche and General Jumper have talked about having to address what some cadets who are women say is a male-dominated culture at the academy that discouraged reporting the attacks and failed to give them adequate emotional or legal support afterward. Several women have said that in the inquiries into their accusations, academy officials seized on other violations that occurred before the assaults like drinking or inappropriate fraternization to undermine their credibility.

The general said, ''The allegations, as we read them from the females who've come forward, tell us that the process is not working and that there is intimidation in the chain of command that would suggest they should not report or press these infractions.''

He made his comments as anger and outrage over the women's accusations grew on Capitol Hill. Senators Susan M. Collins, Republican of Maine, and Joseph I. Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut, the chairwoman and the ranking Democrat on the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, have asked the inspector general of the Defense Department, Joseph E. Schmitz, to examine the accusations immediately.

While praising Mr. Roche for dispatching the Air Force team to the academy, the senators said in a letter on Monday:

''It is imperative that an independent investigation be conducted. Even if only a portion of the allegations are true, such behavior is intolerable, and corrective actions are required immediately.''

A spokesman for the Pentagon said Mr. Schmitz's office had received the letter and was considering the request.

Aides to Senator Wayne Allard, the Colorado Republican who brought the cadets' statements to Mr. Roche's attention last month, said today that 20 women had contacted the senator's office to say they had been raped or sexually assaulted while at the academy.

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A spokesman for Mr. Allard, Dick Wadhams, said that eight women remained enrolled and that the rest had left as a result of their experiences and disillusionment with a system that they say did not protect them.

General Jumper repeated that he had no patience for academy officials who might have dismissed or discounted accusations of sexual assault because the women might have broken other rules.

''Sexual assault and rape is a crime of violence,'' General Jumper said. ''There is nothing you can do in the way of minor infractions leading up to a crime of violence that excuses the crime of violence.''

He added that he had talked to his daughters about the cases and their processing. Neither of the two older women, one a nurse and the other a maintenance officer, went to the academy and neither has ever been sexually assaulted, he said.

At a time when General Jumper's days and thoughts are consumed with the likelihood of war with Iraq, he said, he had turned to his daughters for advice on ensuring that cadets could freely report any assaults and be assured the cases would be properly investigated.

''They feel strongly that the processes have to be there for people to be able to report these and be able to carry them up the chain of command, with confidence they'll be acted on,'' he said. ''But they also caution me that on the emotional side of this there are a lot circumstances that cause these things to be very carefully investigated to make sure that the whole truth is out there.''

His remarks echoed answers that he gave on Tuesday to senators who questioned him at a hearing of the Armed Services Committee.

''Let me assure you and other members of the committee that there is no place in the United States Air Force for any potential officer who would treat any other potential officer in the way that has been alleged,'' the general told Mr. Allard. He also mentioned his daughters.

Mr. Allard, who has criticized top academy officials for being part of the problem, said General Jumper's comments reassured him.

''I got the impression he was as irritated as I was,'' Mr. Allard said in telephone interview.